


undercover force captain

by clicheusername5678



Series: Catradora Oneshots [6]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: F/F, Light Angst, Scorpia is such a good friend, catra character study, inspired by matt the radar technician, starts out funny and then gives you feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-17
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-10-30 01:15:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17819033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clicheusername5678/pseuds/clicheusername5678
Summary: Catra watches some episodes of "Undercover Boss" and decides to give it a shot. With a wig, beanie, and glasses, she becomes Cathy the Tank Technician. Her experiment has mixed results.





	undercover force captain

**Author's Note:**

> this was originally going to be a completely comedic piece, like the kylo ren sketch on snl, but then it got emotional because catradora really do be like that. anyway, enjoy!

As a newly-promoted Force Captain of the Horde, Catra had certain privileges beyond those of any basic cadet. She’d earned a shiny badge, her own bedroom, access to the nicest gym on the base… and, most bafflingly, a subscription to Etheria’s premiere television streaming service.

She had discovered the show  _Undercover Boss_ a few days ago, while searching for dumb reality shows that would make her feel less pathetic about her own life. Basically, the plot of each episode featured a boss of a company, who disguised herself as a lower worker, gauging the public opinion of her own leadership.

It wasn’t until Catra overheard Octavia talking shit that she realized she could go undercover herself.

“Hello, Fright Zone,” Catra practiced in a slightly modified voice, sizing herself up in the full-length bedroom mirror. She wore a long blonde wig, covered with a red beanie, her ears completely hidden. Her eyes were covered by thick glasses with dim lenses, hiding the heterochromia that made her so identifiable. She wore a large navy jacket over her uniform, her tail hidden beneath it, and her force captain was pin tucked safely beneath her pillow.

Replacing the pin was a name tag, flimsy and hand-written, that said “CATHY.” 

“I’m Cathy the Tank Technician,” she said in a dullish voice. “I’m looking forward to having some real talk… with some real folks.”

She sighed, pulled down her beanie, and headed for the door.

~

“So what is it you do, again?” asked the administrator, looking Catra up and down.

“I fix tanks,” Catra said. She lifted her toolbox, stolen from the Fright Zone’s Lost-And-Found to emphasize her point.

“Ah,” the administrator said. “Well, I think Force Captain Scorpia was having trouble with hers earlier.”

“Oh, great,” Catra grumbled. She didn’t hate Scorpia—in fact, she was almost fond of the Horde Princess—but she was looking forward to hanging out with people who disliked her, so she could blow their minds when she ripped off her disguise.

“Hey, Force Captain Scorpia,” said the admin into her radio. “Got a tank tech here to help you out.”

Catra could hear Scorpia’s voice buzz through the radio. “Well,  _tank_  you very much!”

The administrator groaned and looked to Catra. “She’ll be here in a minute.”

Catra sighed and rested her arm on the desk. “Hey,” she said, “what do you think of that new Force Captain? Catra?”

The admin rose an eyebrow. “That the one with the odd eyes?”

Catra narrowed her odd eyes. “Yep,” she said shortly. “That’s her.”

“Kinda came out of nowhere, didn’t she?” the admin said. “Apparently she was one of Shadow Weaver’s wards, but I could have sworn that blonde girl was supposed to be the Force Captain, not her.”

Catra gritted her teeth. “D’ya think she’s good at her job?”

The administrator shrugged. “She was the one to lead the invasion on Bright Moon, right?”

“Yes! That’s right!”

“The  _failed_  invasion.”

“Only because  _She-Ra_ —”

“Hey there, newbie!” shouted a voice behind Catra. She whipped her head around to face Scorpia, friendly as ever.

“Scorp—I mean, Force Captain,” Catra said, “I’m Cathy the Tank Technician.”

“Nice to meet you!” Scorpia said, offering a claw. A different greeting than her initial approach with Catra, apprehending her with a hug…

Catra shook back, making sure to keep her claws retracted. It hurt, but not much. Besides, it was good exercise for battle… after all, her claws were among her few advantages over She-Ra.

Catra followed Scorpia down the familiar hallway, giving glances to soldiers as she passed. They looked at her differently, she noticed—with less respect than they would if she had her badge, but more respect than they had when she was just a cadet. Adult soldiers weren’t fans of the child soldiers on the base, for obvious reasons. Even as a nineteen-year-old, her current age, she had been looked down on for not being on active duty.

“So you’re new around here, huh?” Scorpia asked, a bright smile on her face. Catra nodded.

“Yep.”

“Where are you from?”

“Excuse me?”

“I mean, where’s your family? Where’d you grow up?” 

Catra’s frown deepened. “Uh… nearby. In a village.”

“Oooh, which one? Lohery? Greenstone?”

“Lohery,” Catra said quickly.

“Oh, man,” Scorpia exclaimed, “their coffee’s the best.”

“Yep,” Catra said. She had only drunk coffee once in her life, when Adora had snuck some from Shadow Weaver’s quarters.

“Me, I’m from Sandsmere,” Scorpia said. “Y’know, the desert kingdom?”

Catra nodded. How come Scorpia had never mentioned that before?

“Do you… like it here?” Catra asked.

Scorpia shrugged. “It’s all part of a deal with the Horde. We’ve got this Runestone, y’know, that me and Entrapta and Force Captain Catra used to invade Bright Moon…”

Catra felt her ears perk up below the wig and beanie. “Tell me more about them.”

“Oh!” Scorpia said, her smile widening. “I’d love to! They’re, like, my best friends. Entrapta is a princess, too, and she’s got this hair… it’s pretty, but also, she uses it to do science. And Catra… well, you’ve probably heard about her already.”

“I haven’t heard much,” Catra said as they turned a hallway corner.

“Well, she was a cadet,” Scorpia said, “of Shadow Weaver’s. You’ve probably seen that sorceress lady floating around.”

“Yeah, we’ve crossed paths once or twice,” Catra said dryly.

“So Catra was a ward of hers, but then she got promoted to Force Captain! And we went on a mission together, her very first, to Salineas, where we fought She-Ra! Then we went to prom and fought She-Ra again! She-Ra is this ex-Horde girl named Adora, by the way. Catra used to be friends with her, but then Adora betrayed her for the Princess Rebellion. She’s kind of a jerk—I mean, who does that?”

Honestly, Catra was impressed by how much of her venting Scorpia had retained.

“Yeah, Catra’s super complicated,” Scorpia continued. “I know she’s having a hard time, like, most of the time, so I just try to keep it light. She’s one of those people who you want to be happy so bad, but there’s so many obstacles in the way, and  _she_  gets in her own way… and there’s not much ‘Trapta and I can do besides joke around and celebrate our victories. Sometimes she’s mean, though, and it hurts my feelings. You ever have a friend like that?”

Catra blinked. “No,” she said. “I have really good friends, actually.”

Scorpia held the door to the tankyard open for Catra. Catra walked through, still mildly dumbfounded.

“So, here’s the problem,” Scorpia said, leading Catra to her personal tank. Catra cast a glance at her own—she hadn’t driven the thing since Bright Moon.

Scorpia opened up the hatch in her vehicle, and Catra slid in. Scorpia stayed outside, projecting her voice.

“The control panel’s all messed up,” Scorpia said. Catra looked down at the buttons and switches, but found nothing out of place.

“Looks okay to me,” Catra said.

“Yeah, well,” Scorpia said awkwardly, “you don’t have massive claws.”

“ _Oh_.”

“Yeah,” Scorpia said. “I don’t think accessibility is really the Fright Zone’s top priority these days. Is there any way you could, I dunno, make it easier for me to use?”

Catra was clever, but she wasn’t technical. All of Entrapta’s math-speak went over her head.

Wait— _Entrapta._

Catra climbed out of the hatch, grinning. “That Entrapta,” she said. “Can she help us out?”

Scorpia grinned. “Wow! I hadn’t thought of that! I wonder if Catra can help us too?”

Catra shrugged. “I guess we’ll see.”

~

Apparently, Entrapta acted basically the same with every person she met.

“Cathy, great to meet you,” she said briskly, shaking Catra’s hand with a limb of hair. “Now what’s this about a technological challenge?”

“We’re trying to re-work the controls on my tank,” Scorpia said, “so I can, y’know, use them.”

Entrapta turned away from the Runestone, which cast a reddish light over the room, and lifted her goggles.

“You look familiar,” she said to Catra.

Catra shrugged. “Maybe you’ve seen me around.”

“Are you from Dryl?”

“Sure.”

Scorpia raised an eyebrow. “I thought you were from Lohery!”

Catra cringed. “I’m, uh… from both. I was born in Dryl, and then we moved to Lohery. My family.”

In truth, the only family Catra had ever known was Adora, and that was honestly just depressing.

“My interest in this portion of the conversation has waned,” Entrapta said dryly. “Take me to the tank!”

“Whoo hoo!” Scorpia cheered, and the Super Pal Trio headed back to the tankyard. It was just a quick walk down the hall, and then they’d—

“STOP RIGHT THERE,” said a familiar voice, causing Catra to instinctively wince.

She turned to face Shadow Weaver, raging in her direction. Catra braced herself for criticism, or worse, but felt relief as Weaver addressed someone standing just beyond her.

“Shadow Weaver!” yelped Kyle, saluting.

“Have you seen your Force Captain today?” Shadow Weaver barked, inconsiderate of the several other people in the vicinity.

Kyle turned red and shook his head. “Catra? N-not today, ma’am.”

“That lazy, undeserving waste of—”

“Actually,” Entrapta interrupted, her voice bored. “Statistically, Catra has accomplished more for the Horde in the past month than any other Force Captain has in the past year.”

Scorpia gave Shadow Weaver a sideways grin. “And she kicked your ass, so…”

Shadow Weaver glared through her mask, somehow, and then turned to the cowering blonde cadet.

“KYLE!” she shouted. “FLANK ME!”

“Yes, ma’am…”

They turned a corner and left just as abruptly as they had appeared.

Catra swallowed, processing everything that had just occurred. “Whoah.”

“Yeah,” Scorpia said. “She’s kind of a piece of work. Since Force Captain Catra seized the Runestone and took her place as Hordak’s Second-in-Command, her only real job is training her wards.”

“Sucks for her,” Catra said. She, Scorpia, and Entrapta exited the hall and found themselves in the tankyard.

“Oh, yikes,” Scorpia said as the trio approached her tank. Standing in front of it was a soldier Catra knew as Loopy, a dumb-looking guy with acne scars who usually hung out with Octavia.

Loopy spotted the trio and leaned into the hatch. Catra narrowed her eyes—was someone in there?

Was  _Octavia_  in there?

Catra and Octavia had hated each other from day one. There was a ten-year age difference between them, but somehow Octavia had constantly been around to mock Catra for her eyes and ears and tail. It was cruel, bullying behavior—and unlike Shadow Weaver, Octavia had been vulnerable to attack. So one day, young Catra had snapped, calling Octavia a stupid-face and slashing out her right eye. Now Octavia wore an eye-patch and talked even more shit about Catra than before—especially since she had become Force Captain and Second-in-Command.

She-Ra was Catra’s nemesis. Lonnie was Catra’s frenemy. But Octavia was just the  _worst_.

Sure enough, the fish-lady popped up from inside the tank, her grin smug as ever.

“Lobster Lady,” she greeted Scorpia coolly. “Purple weirdo. And… someone new.”

Catra felt her tail raise in alarm beneath her jacket.

“I’m Cathy,” she said. “The tank technician.”

Octavia frowned and turned to Scorpia and Entrapta. “Where’s Brat Cat?”

“Catra’s busy,” Scorpia said boldly, “doing important work for Lord Hordak.”

It was a lie, but a nice one. Catra hadn’t told anyone her plans for today. She had been working hard recently and deserved some time off.

But here she was, voluntarily spending the day with the same people she saw on all others. And… she didn’t even mind it.

“What are you doing with Scorpia’s tank?” Entrapta asked, genuinely curious.

Octavia smirked. “I heard that she’s been having a hard time driving it,” she said, “with those mutton-chunks she calls claws.”

Scorpia wilted, and Catra felt the hair raise on her arms. How  _dare_  she—

Octavia jumped out of the tank proudly, flanked by Loopy. Entrapta lowered herself into the tank’s hatch with her hair and loudly gasped.

“She’s wrecked it!” she exclaimed. Scorpia hung her head in embarrassment.

“Couldn’t use it before,” she said, “definitely can’t use it now.”

That was it for Catra. She grabbed Octavia by the collar, not bothering to retract her claws. “Listen here,” she snarled, “you stupid-faced piece of—”

“Whoah!” Loopy explained sarcastically. “What an insult, ‘stupid face!’”

Octavia narrowed her eyes in recognition. “It’s you, Brat Cat,” she said. “Isn’t it?”

In one swift movement, Octavia removed Catra’s beanie and wig, revealing her ears and dark hair in a topknot. Scorpia gasped, and Entrapta rose up from the tank.

“Ah,” she said. “That makes sense.” She shrugged and lowered herself back inside the tank.

Catra sighed and released Octavia roughly. “Fine,” she said, “it’s me. And… with my authority as the Horde’s Second-in-Command, I sentence you to a month-long suspension!”

“Uh, Catra,” Scorpia stage-whispered. “I think you can only do week sentences.”

“A week-long suspension!”

“Aw, man,” Octavia exclaimed sarcastically. “Now I won’t have to  _work_  for a week!” Loopy laughed along, like an idiot.

“And,” Catra continued, “as self-appointed Tank Technician, I’m assigning you repair duty for Scorpia’s vehicle. Entrapta will draw up designs for a more user-friendly control panel, and you’ll do the grueling installation. It’s a pretty clean slate, right, since you’ve destroyed it?” 

Octavia’s smug grin fell to a frown, and Loopy finally shut up.

“Loopy,” Catra said, “you can oversee her, on top of your usual duties.”

“Aw, dang,” Loopy said, crossing his arms over his chest.

Catra grinned, feeling that delectable power that came with her rank. After a lifetime of being second-best, she loved the authority of being the one in charge.

“Scorpia,” she said, addressing her friend. “You and Entrapta are really good friends. I’m sorry for lashing out at you both.”

Scorpia’s eyes widened. “Aw, Catra!”

 “Can you and Entrapta draw up those plans together? After all, it is your tank she’s re-designing.”

Scorpia nodded and knocked on the tank. “Hey, Entrapta! Did you hear that?”

Entrapta rose yet again, this time for good. “I heard it,” she said. “I was thinking a seat warmer, cup holder, and bluetooth for tunes, for starters.”

“I do love my tunes,” Scorpia admitted. “C’mon, let’s walk and talk.”

They both gave Catra a kind look, and then headed back to the base. Loopy and Octavia still stood, stinging from the punishment, until Catra clapped her hands.

“Why are you two still here?” she shouted. They both scowled and headed in Scorpia and Entrapta’s direction, leaving Catra alone in the concrete tankyard.

Catra yawned as the midday sun shone upon her, piercing through the heavy clouds of pollution that covered the Fright Zone. She was well overdue for a nap.

She climbed into her own tank, curled up in the seat, and dozed off, purring softly.

~

Catra awakened to the sounds of laser-fire.

“Wha…?” she muttered as she rubbed her head. She pulled her jacket protectively around herself and stirred in her seat.  

Catra opened up her tank’s hatch and peeked out. Sure enough, a battle was in progress, occurring on the tankyard concrete.

A weird place for an attack, but strategically genius… most of the Horde’s firepower came from its tanks, so taking them out would be ridiculously effective. Only one person would think to do this, Catra knew. Only one person was aware of the Horde’s inner workings, layout, and weaponry.

Adora. No, not Adora— _She-Ra_.

Catra snarled and prepared to join the fray—but then, she had a thought. She could take She-Ra and the rebellion by surprise as Cathy the Tank Technician.

She grinned as she pulled on the wig, beanie, and glasses. She grabbed her taser from the tank’s storage receptacle and lifted the hatch again, this time launching herself outside.

It didn’t take long to spot She-Ra amongst the fighting. She was there, fighting off three armed tanks, while Sparkles and Bob flanked her. It seemed to just be the three of them this time, which made Catra feel a little insulted. Did they seriously not even call the rebellion for this mission? Did they think it’d be that easy to take Catra’s army down?

Well, not Catra’s army—Hordak’s. But, still… she couldn’t help but take it a little personally.

Catra got on all fours and made her way to She-Ra, who held that ridiculous sword outstretched. She poked She-Ra’s back playfully, hoping that the scratches from their last battle were still tender.

“Hey, Adora,” Catra whispered in She-Ra’s ear, startling her to attention. She-Ra turned her head, but Catra had already moved out of her sight.

“Catra!” She-Ra shouted, glancing to Sparkles and Bob.

Sparkles rolled her eyes, and Bob shot an arrow. “Go ahead!” Bob shouted to She-Ra. “We can handle the tanks!”

Sparkles seemed less willing to let She-Ra chase Catra, but still gave her an allowing nod. She-Ra grunted and followed the motion blur she assumed to be Catra out of the tankyard, past the base, and into the bordering woods—not the Whispering Woods—but an abandoned area of the Fright Zone.

“Catra!” Adora shouted into the overgrown vines and tree boughs. “I know you’re here, and I know you’re messing with me!”

Catra smirked from the branch where she was perched, and ungracefully allowed herself to topple down. She fell into the dirt, her wig and hat still firmly in place. She-Ra immediately came to her aid and offered her a hand upon realizing that she wasn’t her nemesis.

“I’m sorry,” She-Ra said, glowing like a goddess. “I thought you were someone else.”

Catra frowned and got herself up, rejecting She-Ra’s assistance.

“What’s going on?” Catra asked in her Cathy voice, trying to sound panicked and weak. “I was working on tank repairs, and then I heard explosions, and I ran…”

She-Ra looked sympathetic, genuine, and kind. “I’m so sorry,” she said, “our war is with the Horde, not some technician just trying to do her job.”

“Who are you?” Catra asked, looking up She-Ra up and down. It wasn’t often that she got to bask in the magical light of the warrior princess… since she was usually trying to beat her to the ground.

“I’m She-Ra, Princess of Power. I’m not going to hurt you, I… I know what it’s like to work for the Horde.”

“Really,” Catra said dryly.

“You can come with us!” She-Ra said suddenly. “You’ve already ran, why don’t you do it for good? We’re always looking for talented technicians on our side, especially since we lost Entrapta…”

Catra bristled especially at that. Adora and her new little friends, leaving people behind left and right…

She swallowed her anger and tried to appear soft, unthreatening.

“I think I’d like that,” Catra said, allowing She-Ra to take her hand. There was just something about this form that made time pass like honey, and the touch of her skin was like a blessing…

Catra blinked, and She-Ra was gone. There stood Adora, hair mussed, a frown on her face.

“I meant what I said,” Adora said. “I used to be with the army, too. But then I realized that it’s called the Evil Horde for a reason … so I had to leave.”

Catra felt an unexpected wave of emotion upon facing Adora so plainly. She pulled her hand away.

“Do you… miss anything?” Catra heard herself asking. “From the Fright Zone?”

Adora nodded immediately. “I do,” she said.

“Do you regret leaving?”

Adora shook her head. “No,” she answered. “I don’t.”

Catra scowled and began to reach for her hat. But Adora stopped her, as she continued to speak.

“I do sometimes,” she said. “The person I was chasing when you fell out of the tree… Catra…”

“Force Captain Catra,” Catra corrected Adora, using the proper title.

Adora sighed. “Forget it,” she said. “It’s too complicated, and I barely know you.”

“No,” Catra insisted. “Tell me what you were going to say.”

Adora studied Catra, her expression unreadable. “What’s your name?”

“Cathy,” Catra breathed. “The tank technician.”

“Really.”

“Yep.”

“ _Really_.”

“ _Yep_.”

“Hoooooookay,” Adora said, crossing her arms over her chest. “If you say so.”

“I do say so,” Catra argued, “because it’s literally my name.”

“Is not,” Adora teased, a smug grin appearing on her face.

Catra groaned. “What are you, six? It’s my name!”

“Definitely not your name. And that’s definitely a wig.”

“No! It’s my hair!”

“And the glasses are a great touch.”

“They’re  _prescription_!”

“Oh! I didn’t know they had prescriptions for heterochromia now!”

Catra tackled the other girl onto the ground. “Shut  _up_ , Adora!”

Adora smiled from beneath her, victorious. “Hey, Catra.”

Catra scowled and kissed Adora very hard. Adora kissed back, grabbing Catra’s wig and beanie but keeping them in place.

Eventually, Catra came up for air. “This doesn’t mean I forgive you,” she said sternly. Adora nodded from beneath her.

“This doesn’t mean I think what you’re doing is right.”

Catra allowed Adora to sit beside her, criss-cross on the forest ground. They didn’t touch but only stared.

Catra sighed and removed her glasses. Adora sighed.

“Things aren’t great between us, huh,” she breathed.

Catra shook her head. “No, they are not.” 

“Definitely unhealthy.”

“Big-time.”

Adora paused, and then spoke again. “How’s life? Y’know, when you’re not on the battlefield? You doin’ okay?”

Catra scoffed. “I’m all right,” she said, only half-truthfully. “I… do have some good friends. And I like being Force Captain, and Second-in-Command. And I have streaming TV, which is a plus.”

Adora gave Catra a small smile. “That’s good,” she said. “I’m glad you’re not…”

“Totally destroyed by your absence?” Catra suggested. “You are such a narcissist.”

Adora sighed. “You know what I mean. The stuff between us… it’s so much.”

“I know.”

“Like, in the First Ones’ ruins—”

“I remember.”

Adora looked right into Catra’s eyes. “I miss you a lot, and often,” she said, and there was no way it wasn’t the truth. “But this war is a big deal. Doing the right thing is a big deal, to me.”

“I thought we were gonna do the right thing,” Catra said, avoiding Adora’s eyes, “together.”

“Why try to fix a broken system when you can fight it on the side of good?” Adora pleaded.

“Because I’m a  _part_  of the broken system,” Catra said, devoid of emotion. “And you know what? So are you. We’re both Horde brats. I thought we were gonna fix it, make it better, so no one would have to grow up how we did.”

Adora finally turned away. “I’m sorry, Catra. This is what I’m doing. She-Ra is supposed to help the Rebellion. If you… if this is really where you need to be, then… fine.”

Catra felt something shift in her chest. Adora had never respected her choice to stay before. Always, it had been ‘Catra, you’re too good for the Horde,’ ‘Catra, follow me,’ ‘Catra, do what I did.’ For the first time, it was as though Adora saw her as someone making her own choices—hard choices, complicated choices, residing somewhere between good and bad, between black and white.

 “Hey, Adora?”

“Yeah, Catra?”

“I miss you, too.”

And with that, Catra thrust the taser hidden within her jacket into Adora’s gut, effectively knocking her unconscious. She glanced down at the Sword of Protection but decided to leave it with its rightful owner. After all, it’s what Adora had chosen.

She left her wig, beanie, glasses, and jacket a few meters away from Adora, who was soon to awaken and re-join the battle. Cathy the Tank Technician had been fun to play while she lasted.

Catra cracked her knuckles as she returned to the tankyard. The battle was still raging, and promised to continue until the machines were destroyed or the rebels were fended off the premises.

Catra dove into her tank and joined the defense, the taste of Adora lingering on her lips.


End file.
